From the Editor’s Desk

Abstract

11 The French Review From the Editor’s Desk As befits its title—Francophonie(s)—this special issue is wide-ranging in terms of its literary and cultural subject matter, as well as in its geographical reach. In the first article,“The‘Spark of Human Sympathy’ in Francophone Literature,”Phillip Bailey (University of Central Arkansas) examines works from Senegal (Mariama Bâ, Une si longue lettre), Martinique (Aimé Césaire, Cahier d’un retour au pays natal), and Guadeloupe (Maryse Condé, Traversée de la Mangrove). In “Entre vacuité et plénitude: Loin de mon père de Véronique Tadjo,”Patrick Kabeya Mwepu (Rhodes University, South Africa) analyzes a partly autobiographical novel by an author whose family origins are in Côte d’Ivoire but who also typifies the cultural hybridity of many current Francophone African writers. Mathilde Kang (Stony Brook University), in“Francophonie en Orient: aux croisements du transculturel,” argues counter-intuitively that the transcultural phenomenon of la francophonie in Asia extends beyond the countries and regions that were once colonized by France.In“The French Language in New England: Past,Present,and Future,”Joseph Edward Price (Texas Tech University) invites us to consider the Francophone heritage in New England, and particularly in Maine. See also his comments on University of Southern Maine’s recent decision to discontinue its program in French studies (“Addendum” 68–69). Stéphanie Bérard (University of Virginia), in “Un dialogue théâtral caribéen par-delà les langues: collaboration artistique et pédagogique entre la Guadeloupe et Cuba,” presents a case of Francophone/ Hispanophone cultural exchange in the Caribbean, through the medium of theater. In“Le sanglot de l’homme noir d’Alain Mabanckou: une nouvelle lecture de l’Atlantique noire?,”Patricia-Pia Célérier (Vassar College) considers the importance of an essay (with a typically provocative title) by a writer whose family origins are in the Republic of the Congo, but who lives and teaches in the United States. Ioanna Chatzidimitriou (Muhlenberg College), in“‘Pour une littérature-monde en français’: The End of the Francophone World as We Know It?,” delivers a detailed critique of the Littérature-monde manifesto, first published in Le Monde in 2007. In “Francophone Films to the Rescue: Indigenous Languages and Francophone Studies,” Carine Bourget (University of Arizona) argues for the greater inclusion of multilingual (rather than strictly French-speaking) films in Francophone Studies curricula. Isaac Joslin (University of Denver), in“The New Francophonie: Teaching French from an African-Centered Perspective,”advocates a fairly radical pedagogical approach, based on demographic and economic trends that will, most likely, greatly increase Africa’s weight within the Francophone world. This special issue is accompanied by an online Dossier pédagogique on a Franco-Senegalese film, Un transport en commun (Dyana Gaye, 2009), by Marie-Magdeleine Chirol (Whittier College).As a reminder, all the Dossiers pédagogiques can be accessed on the French Review website: . This special issue also includes a Varia section, which should not be overlooked . It includes articles in the following rubrics: Focus on the Classroom (“From Language and Culture to Language as Culture: An Exploratory Study of University Student Perceptions of Foreign-Language Pedagogical Reform” by Diane de Saint Léger and Andrew McGregor), Literature (“Boum!... Boum!!... Mécanicisme de Ponge” by Gilles Glacet), Interview (“Fiction, incarnation et singularité: entretien avec Pierre Jourde”by Alexander Dickow), and online Dossier pédagogique (“En solitaire [Christophe Offenstein, 2013]” by Emmanuelle Remy and Jacki Williams-Jones). I would like to thank all the Assistant Editors who contributed to this May 2015 special issue on Francophonie(s). I would also like to thank Geoffrey Hope (University of Iowa), former Assistant Editor, for his many years of service to our journal and to the profession. We welcome Pascale Perraudin (Saint Louis University) as Assistant Editor. As a reminder, the title of our special issue for Vol. 89 (May 2016) will be: Alcools, drogues et visions: littérature et paradis artificiels. Scholars of literature, film, or cultural studies are encouraged to submit articles. Multidisciplinary approaches are welcome. The call for articles is in our Announcements section (295). On the same page, readers will also find the general guidelines for submitting...